Cox Quads & Tew Triplets take over Chuck E Cheese!

The weather has been beautiful here lately but getting out of the house with 4 3 year olds while being 7+ months pregnant is quite the challenge. Typically this weather is enjoyed at the zoo but physically, there’s just no way right now. Angela and I opted to take our large crew to Chuck E Cheese. We picked the perfect time and our kids practically had the entire place to themselves!

L-R Kylee, Baxlyn, Korbin, Brody, Emmett, Emerson & Everett

The kids all had a great time! It was all Angela and I could do to keep up with their “money, money, money” requests (asking for tokens). ONE by ONE we went through 150 tokens (a coupon deal) between all 7 kiddos. With each token we would remind them to actually attempt to PLAY the game they put their coin in, rather than walk away from it, and to not forget to grab their tickets, if they won any.

Miss B and her signature face lately…just about every picture, this is what she chooses to do which drives this germ-a-phobic mama crazy at a place like Chuck E Cheese….yuck!

Kylee Mae & Barney

Kylee has a MAJOR fear of characters…Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Santa, The Easter Bunny and Chuck E Cheese is no exception. On our last trip to Chuck E Cheese she happened to be up in the jungle gym tunnel things when Chuck E Cheese himself came out to wave and see the kids. She saw him from above, FREAKED OUT, couldn’t find her way down for several minutes…etc.  The entire experience has haunted her ever since – the girl has one sharp memory. She’s been talking about Chuck E Cheese for a few weeks now and about how she’s afraid but could hold my hand, but not touch him, but maybe wave at him and so on and so on. You can tell she’s still so terrified but wants to be brave SO bad! I was anxious to see how she handled the experience this time around.

As soon as we walked in and the babies were all safety stamped at the door they all took off and Angela and I stopped at the front to order their lunch. We were not there 3 minutes and here comes Kylee RUNNING for her life, so terrified she can’t even scream. To make matters worse she was on the opposite side of a row of booths blocking her from me and Chuck E Cheese is headed right in her direction! By the time I got to her she was bawling and literally trembling in my arms, poor girl! The rest of the day she kept a close eye out. She made sure she was in my lap and had her head dug into my shoulder each time “HE came out of his cage”. It’s been a few days now and she is still talking constantly about how she “freaked out, but maybe next time it will be ok…etc” LOL! Her fear makes me wonder how we are going to handle the whole Santa thing this year. I can just imagine telling them “Let’s leave cookies for Santa, Santa is coming to your house tonight while you are sleeping, he’s gonna snoop around your house, eat cookies and leave stuff!!” and having 3 excited and one going down with nightmares. Ugh, we’ll have to think that one through!

Korbin & Baxlyn riding the clock ride…

Brody & Korbin playing the Dog game. This one was a hit and one of the few they actually understood. It was so frustrating watching them put coin after coin into machines that they couldn’t even see into, much less play.

As Angela and I sat and watched we saw Emmett helping his bro, Everett attempt to get his shoe back on. At this age we’re really starting to see them care and try to look out for their siblings (when they’re not fighting, that is) and it’s so sweet to witness!

Baxlyn, slightly regretting her choice to ride the monster truck!

Much happier on the buzzy bee…

1 large pizza, 4 drinks, 150 tokens and who knows how many tickets later split between 7 kids…they each went home with their little crappy plastic ring and bug (which have all been either broken or lost by now) ;)

Another fun outing with some of our favorite triplet buddies, can’t wait to do it again!

34 Weeks–Sweet #5!!

 

I can’t believe we’re just a few weeks away from meeting our sweet boy! Besides having a ridiculous time with insomnia, I’m still feeling pretty good. I get comments daily from strangers and over hear people say behind my back on a regular basis how I “must be due any day because I’m carrying so low”. Low, I am indeed, but determined to make it to at least 38 weeks :) Friends & family think it’s funny to joke about there being another one in there hiding….yeah, not so funny to Bret and I!

I had my 34 week appointment today and my doc says he’s confident baby is still head down, which is a good thing. We’ll go in two weeks for our next sonogram to find out about how big he is and how he’s positioned. I’ve officially gained…..gulp….35lbs so far. Way more than I had anticipated and exactly what I gained with the quads…boo! I still have my fingers crossed it will just melt away once this lil’ man is done cooking.

As far as being ready for the baby’s arrival well…I’m not LOL! As you have probably picked up on, we STILL don’t have a name, which is beginning to stress me out. “Sweet Number Five” is starting to sound pretty good at this point in time ;) Our crib and dresser/changer did come in this week, so that’s a start. Bret got the crib put together last night and I’m hoping that the nursery is 100% ready by our 36 weeks appointment. The baby’s room is the only room in the new house that is still sitting there, untouched, just as it sat the day we moved in. A little paint, furniture and a few accessories and we’ll have a beautiful nursery awaiting our little guy. Some of my friends threw me a baby shower this past weekend so help us with some of the basics. Thanks to all who came and supported us! A part of me feels like, really Heather, who needs a baby shower after quadruplets? In reality the question is, who thinks to keep things for YET ANOTHER baby after having quadruplets! Our friends and family have been so generous in helping us with the things I didn’t keep from the quads and for that we are grateful!

Until next time!

DIY Makeup Remover Wipes ( & Baby Wipes)

Another Do It Yourself project! I found the idea and recipe on pinterest and after 3 weeks of using it, I feel confident enough to say I love it and thought I’d share it with you!

As much as I love the easiness and convenience of the packaged makeup remover wipes, the little suckers aren’t cheap. I only treat myself to a pack occasionally…usually on long night road trips for the ease of getting off makeup in the car. Even then, I buy the cheap equate brand (which is great, don’t get me wrong) but I still pay at least $5 for a pretty small amount of wipes in my opinion and feel super guilty when I have to use 5 of them to remove all of my makeup. I personally wear a lot of mascara and I am that girl at the pool with big raccoon eyes after my first dip. I’ve been known to carry a bottle of eye makeup remover TO the pool along with paper towels to wipe away my markings as they appear – ridiculous and so annoying!

We’ve all been told “NEVER wear your makeup to bed- it’s one of the worst things you can do for your skin – let your skin breathe when you sleep...yada-ya”. For the longest time my nightly routine was using a facial cleanser (again, equate brand) in which I applied, let sit for a few minutes, stood and wiped away with a warm washcloth and then proceeded to remove my eye makeup with my GREAT but EXPENSIVE Mary Kay eye makeup remover. The process worked but took more time than this tired mama wanted to take some nights and I’ll admit…..gasp…. there have been many times I go to bed makeup and all. When I saw this simple recipe online for DIY makeup remover wipes, I figured I would give it a try.

What you’ll need: 1 Container with lid. 1/2 Roll Bounty Select-a-size Paper Towels, 2 Cups of Water, 1-2 Squirts of Babywash, 1 Spoonful Pure Coconut Oil. All ingredients found at Walmart (if not in your cabinets!).

The only thing I had to buy was the Coconut Oil, which I paid $5 for at Walmart. That got me 31ounces of Coconut Oil that will last me a long long time, not to mention it has a TON of uses (seriously a ton, research it) and won’t expire for 2 years! Reviews I read online strongly suggested to use specifically the Bounty Select a Size paper towels. Bounty for quality and the Select a Size for the perfect sized wipe – I agree!

Directions:

1) Cut paper towel roll in half with a non-serrated knife and brush off any fuzzy pieces around edges. I will admit, this part kinda sucked. Apparently I don’t own a “non-serrated” knife and cutting the paper towels wasn’t the easiest task with our crappy regular/serrated knife… I simply called Bret into the kitchen and one minute later, wa-la, I had my roll cut in half and was ready to go on. I did have quite a few fuzzy pieces to wipe and pull away but over all, not a big deal.

2) Make Solution. Put 2 cups of warm water into your container, add a tbsp. or two of your coconut oil (becomes liquid state at 76 degrees) then add a squirt or two of your favorite babywash and stir gently.

3) Place your paper towel roll into the container that holds your solution and press down. DON’T PANIC that your paper towel roll is several inches taller than your container, it will fit :) Keep pushing downward, place the lid on tight then turn container upside-down to sit for no less that 5 minutes.

4) After 5 minutes, flip the container over, pop the lid and you’ll easily be able to remove the cardboard roll from the center.

5) Pull your first wipe from the center of the roll and get to wipin’!

I couldn’t wait to try the wipes the night I made them. I was a little leery but figured hey, if they didn’t work, I wasted what…half a roll of paper towels? Let me say, I was super impressed. We all know it doesn’t take much to wipe away powder and foundation but the TRUE test for me was that eye makeup. As you can see in the picture below, it came off, ALL of it with no problemo! There are brand name eye makeup removers that don’t fully remove my mascara (again, why I LOVE Mary Kay, the stuff works) and yet, this little solution does a GREAT job for a super smallll fraction of the price! Sorry to all you Mary Kay reps out there, but I no longer need you OR those pricey pre-made makeup remover wipes! This one batch/container lasted me 3 and a half weeks and I used about 4-5 each day. Those of you who wear less make up (especially eye makeup) could probably get away with using 1-3 wipes each use and stretching your one container even longer. One concern I had was the consistency of the paper towels…. I was afraid after a day or so I’d be left with a container of soggy towels that I would hate to touch, much less use on my face. After 3+ weeks, the wipes were just the way they were on day one!

*This exact same solution can be used as baby wipes as well. I read many people who use them on a daily basis for their babies’ bums and are happy with them. I personally love actual baby wipes and am sticking to them for now :)

*Several DIY-ers mentioned adding essential oils for scented wipes.

*Some people reported mold growth in the bottom of their container after several weeks…. but again you have many people who say they’ve used the wipes for a long period of time and have never had any such issue. I kept a close eye myself and my wipes were totally fine. You can use distilled water (or even pre-boiled water) rather than tap to eliminate chances of mold build up.

*Again, if you’re not too familiar with Coconut Oil, go do some research! I was amazed at what all I read and all the great things it can offer when it comes to cooking, skin care, hair care..etc.!

Stay Tuned! More DIY projects coming your way!

32 Weeks–Sweet #5!

32 Weeks and 2 days to be exact ;) Feeling good and can’t believe we’re just a couple of months from seeing our new little baby boy…who still has no name, by the way. I’m still feeling good and going strong. The PB&J cravings are back and insomnia is sneaking it’s way back into my night life but no complaints from this mama! Baby boy is still more active than I could have ever imagined a baby being. All day and all night kick kick kick, roll roll roll. I’ve had people LITERALLY sit across a room watching him go at it in my belly. Either I’m growing a little version of the Incredible Hulk or the poor quads literally had ZERO room to move when in utero and stretched me out plenty so this lil’ guy does – I think it’s a little of both!

I had my 32 week appointment today and my doc continues to be happy with my progress. Based on the “feel” of my belly, Dr. Leveno is guessing the baby is head down and weighing somewhere in the area of 4 1/2lbs. How he knows, I have not a clue, but I trust he knows a thing or two more than myself :) Lot’s of people have asked a) if the quads were c-section and b) if so, does that mean this baby will also be born via cesarean. Yes, the quads were c-section (could you even imagine?!) and to many people’s surprise, NO, that doesn’t mean that this baby will have to be taken the same way. My doc feels confident we could go either way but the size of the baby (we’ll find out at 36w) will have an impact. Honestly, I’m open either way, VBAC or cesarean, just praying if we do go with surgery, my recovery is WAY better than the last time.

32 Weeks!

We’ll keep ya posted! In the meantime, if you could send up a prayer for the littles and myself, we’re all a little under the weather. Hoping it passes quickly!

A Birthday Wish…

Happy Birthday to our beautiful Aunt Janie! We hope you are having a FABULOUS day! Love & Miss You!

-Bret, Heather, Brody, Baxlyn, Kylee, Korbin… & Sweet #5